How to Use Marketing Engagements to Uncover Policy Sales

Over the years, we’ve worked with and interviewed some of the most successful agents in the country, and we’ve heard them repeat a similar sentiment when it comes to agency growth. They all say something like: “If my producers or I can simply start a conversation with anyone for any reason, we have the expertise and skills to create value. We just need a reason to call—a way to start that conversation—and we can turn it into sales or retention opportunities.”

These agents are looking for ways to offer new policies or improve customer satisfaction with every interaction they have, even if the topic of discussion isn’t initially about quotes or service.

Insurance agents have a unique business model that allows them to turn simple conversations into growth opportunities. Here are three reasons why:

1) Insurance quotes are relevant to everyone. You can always offer an auto or home insurance quote to non-customers. Car insurance is legally mandated in 49 out of 50 states, making it a necessity for every driver. Similarly, homeowners insurance is typically required for the duration of a mortgage loan.

With nearly 85 million active mortgage loans in the U.S., these two types of policies alone demonstrate the widespread relevance of insurance services to nearly every prospect you might encounter, giving you a simple call to action for every conversation. Who isn’t open to hearing a quote?

2) Your customers expect upsells and cross-sells. As an insurance agent, you are the trusted advisor for your customers when it comes to insurance coverage. If the agent-client relationship is properly nurtured, your recurring customers trust you to protect them from risk and make professional recommendations. This relationship naturally leads to coverage increases and cross-sell opportunities.

3) Life changes present opportunities. Lastly, insurance needs almost always accompany life changes. If you have over 1,000 customers in your book of business, chances are that on any given day, someone is experiencing a life change. Those life changes present opportunities to add or update coverage, so you and your staff should be actively looking for and asking about life changes whenever you engage with a customer. Review portfolios whenever you’re talking to a customer.

These perspectives make it appropriate and simple for you to turn any conversation into a quote or retention opportunity.

Digital Marketing Campaigns as Your Conversation Starter

Many agencies struggle with marketing because they aren’t sure what results they are hoping for. Even when campaigns produce results, it’s sometimes difficult to interpret those results or to know how to take meaningful action that generates growth for the agency.

To make things simpler, think of digital marketing campaigns as the tool your agency uses to create simple conversations. Here are a few examples:

• If someone comments on your social media post, send that person a direct message to thank them for their engagement and then offer them a quote. Their comment is your “reason to call.”
• If a contact clicks on your email marketing campaign, you know they have some level of interest in your services and could call to ask if they have any questions or if they’d like a quote, even if they didn’t specifically request a quote from you. The engagement on the email—the click—is your “reason to call.”
• When an existing customer responds to your newsletter email to request a service or ask a question, you can review their policies to look for opportunities to upsell or cross-sell. Their service request is your “reason to call.”

If you and your producers are prepared to have simple conversations and pivot them into sales opportunities, the goal of all your digital marketing can simply be to generate engagement. Then you can use that engagement as the opportunity to create a conversation. Not every marketing campaign will move prospects to the point of a quote request, but you can use your insurance expertise and sales skills to do that yourself, using the marketing engagement as your reason to call.

Which Digital Marketing Campaigns to Run

We’ve found that the four marketing campaigns that create the most effective engagement strategy are:

1) Email marketing. You likely already have large lists of contacts in your database, such as current customers, former customers and cold leads. There are surely policy sale opportunities hidden in these lists, but contacting the right person at the right time is nearly impossible with manual outbound calls.

Email marketing allows you to reach thousands of contacts at once, while also remaining in frequent contact. When the timing is right for a prospect to request a quote, you’ll be in their inbox with an offer. Email marketing campaigns often result in direct quote opportunities without much need to pivot the conversation.

2) Local SEO. People in your area search for insurance on Google every day. If you aren’t showing up in the search results, you’re missing those opportunities. Local SEO optimizes your online presence to capture those who are actively looking for insurance in your area. When someone calls you directly from your Google profile, that’s your conversation starter.

3) Reviews and customer feedback. When you request reviews and feedback from your current customers, you identify who is satisfied and who is not. You can use that feedback to start a cross-selling or referral-seeking conversation with happy customers. You can also seek to improve the experience of unhappy customers, leading to increased retention. Both of these conversations will grow your agency.

4) Social media posts and boosts. Posting regularly on social media engages your current customers, which can lead to service and sale opportunities. Running a boosted post—think of this like an ad—can reach thousands of other online users in your community. Whenever a user comments on a post, reach out to say thank you and start a conversation.

At Lift Local, we help insurance agents start conversations through digital marketing engagements. Our dashboard automates all of your campaigns, meaning there’s no setup required on your part. The results and engagements are simplified into action items, telling you exactly what needs to be done to start a productive conversation. 

Author

Zach Petersen

Director of Customer Success and Partnerships, Lift Local